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Deeplinks Blog

Deeplinks Blog

Today, we filed comments (PDF) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to warn against overbroad interpretation of the CAN-SPAM Act -- new federal legislation aimed at stemming the current tidal wave of spam. We are pessimistic that the law will be effective in...

An attorney lets his 10 year-old install a computer game. Here's what happens: So my 10 year-old took the lead and started installing the software. When he got to the license agreement, he quipped, "Let's see, it says I have to click 'accept' to continue. Well DUH! It's...

Reuters: "'This is not just 'buyer beware.' Consumers should be aware that there's a vast violation of European law occurring here,' said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, a citizens' group with offices in Britain and the United States. [...] Privacy groups said they were also concerned about...

In a victory for due process, a Pennsylvania judge has reaffirmed his previous finding requiring that record companies that seek to sue filesharers bring individual cases against the defendants, rather than lumping them all together. Our favorite part of the ruling (PDF): when Judge Newcomer lists ways that the...

We're still figuring that out. As you've no doubt heard, Google's new Gmail beta email service is raising concerns (reg. req.) about privacy. How much concern? Well, let's just say that it's not often that a new email service is widely misinterpreted as an April...

Fredwrites below that player pianos were the peer-to-peer file-sharing systems of their day; they spurred copyright holders to lobby Congress for what amounts to a monopoly over all machines capable of reproducing sound. Luckily for us, observes Fred, they failed -- and the modern-day recording industry was...

A few of our favorites from the day's foolish endeavors (in which we couldn't resist taking part): Ed Foster introduces the Lexmark car: "Printer manufacturer Lexmark is proud to announce it will enter the automotive market with a line of cars featuring its exclusive Aftermarket Product...

The Federal District Court in the Middle District of Florida today denied the motion of sixteen record companies to force the Internet Service Provider Bright House to provide the identities of 25 individuals accused of copyright infringement using the FastTrack peer-to-peer network. The Court decided that the record companies had...

When considering what to make of the recording industry's current rants against peer-to-peer file sharing software, it may help to remember how the record industry got its start -- by pirating the works of famous American songwriters. Consider this article, written by John Philip Sousa in 1906: "I...

A Canadian court today denied the recording industry's effort to force Canadian ISPs to disclose the names of 29 alleged file sharers. This alone is news enough (and thanks are due to CIPPIC and Electronic Frontier Canada for their efforts in the proceeding). But the...

Some folks keep asking why more artists aren't breaking into the mainstream through file sharing. This article suggests that they are--but that the record labels are taking all the credit: "Record-label executives discreetly use Garland's research firm, BigChampagne, and other services to track which songs are traded online...

In the wake of a Harvard/UNC study (PDF) asserting that the effect file sharing has on music sales is "statistically indistinguishable" from zero, the recording industry has decided to take its P2P litigation campaignglobal. SaysIFPI Chairman Jay Berman, "I...

...the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) wants to embed RFIDs in your passport, along with so-called biometric identifiers such as fingerprints. We joined Privacy International, the ACLU and other civil liberties organizations from all around the world today in opposing this...

...as we would if we didn't point you as well to the other Larry (Solum), who has begun what he describes as a "blogospheric book club" for discussing Free Culture: "Lessig is telling stories that are designed to pump certain intuitions--to put us in...